After Math...

Well, well. Ramadhan is over and we are back on the busy tracks on the everyday work. I wished for one complete week holiday though, but anyway it was not possible at all, with Eid starting out on Friday, and since Eid lasts for 3 days, it was over by Sunday, and then Monday was given as a substitute for Friday since Friday is already a holiday originally (weekend).
I wonder if I'm going to write here daily since I'm back to the fast pace life and the coffee-drinking in every morning, but if it is to be so then it must be limited to the size of material at hand. As I'm writing this today, I do have some material indeed and some news, as I am waiting as well for my travel to Ireland to arrive on the 28th of this month. Two weeks from now. Two long weeks...

In the meantime, I'm waiting for my shipment of the new Canon EOS 7D to arrive, which surprisingly is still in my Borderlinx box in the US (according to the website). This got me worried so far. What if the shipment took so long (abnormally to DHL!) and I didn't have the time to pick it up myself before going to Ireland? Even if it was to be here before 28th, I do have my worries of getting used to it before going to Ireland. I have to train my fingers with its controls and my eyes with its LCD display.

Canon EOS 7D

I like the idea here that the modes knob is on the left instead of the right side of the camera. I guess it will make me more flexible and easy to change modes easily (specifically between the Tv, Av and M). The thing which didn't appeal much to me is the fact that the LCD panel where information like EV and other criteria is fixed on the upper side of the camera, not like my old 350D, where it is above the LCD display and everything is done in front of you. I hope the situation is like my friend said, that Borderlinx website is just not updated regularly. Days feel so so so long when you are waiting for something, and I just hate that.

My friend, thankfully, presented to me 2 books as a gift for my birthday. Well, it took so long but anyway he wanted to do that anyway! I gave him a list of books in my Amazon's wishlist and told him to pick whatever he likes to pick. Too bad he doesn't blog but I might consider put his email address here to send him your requests :), he is a generous man! 

The first book he got me is the one book I need so urgently since I'm working with my inkjet printer and printing out my photographs: Fine Art Printing for Photographers: Exhibition Quality Prints with Inkjet Printers, 2nd Edition 

 

I'm just starting to read and so far it's all in the circle of an introduction to printing systems. With my work start right now, seems work time is the only time I'm able to read this book for now, specially with my Ayvarith business being idle for some time now.

The other book was also a book that I was urge to own, but for some time now I've been delaying this in favor of photography books, upon which I'm concentrating to expand my horizon in this field. The book is: Introduction to Manuscript Studies. I've been always fond of such artifacts and eager to see them with my own eyes, and take snaps of them with my own camera. These objects gives you a vivid imagination even if you can't read them, and if you can read them, some wisdom is added as well, something beyond our physical world and the wisdom of the internet nowadays.

 

But this book is large and big, and I can't start reading it right away. I'm thinking of having it with me when I travel to Ireland but even with that I'm reluctant. I have 3 books in my mind that I need to pick only one of them. The printing book, the manuscripts book, and a book that I got last year from Ireland about Irish myths which I just started to read recently. Mainly it is a set of stories.

Beside these books I'm concerned so far by the weight of my luggage and the security procedures in airports, as I am trying to transport with me a tripod, a monopod, a mini-tripod and the heavy VR-head 303SPH Manfrotto.

All I have to do I guess is just pray for some good luck my way. I might need some bigger case for all this mess I have at hand right now. Or, I might just end up making my backpack for my own clothes!

Back to printing, I gave a try on calibrating my monitor as it is usually adviced for people who process their photos and print them out. The calibration process is aimed at giving the processor (me) to see on monitor almost the final product that would be printed out with the inkjet for maximum quality. I surfed the net a bit for some methods to calibrate my 19" LCD monitor. One of the methods that I've tried was using a special chart displayed on monitor and you'd have to adjust the brightness and the contrast of the monitor in order to view the chart correctly.

from http://www.photofriday.com/calibrate.php

In this chart, you are supposed to see different grade of whites and blacks over all the letters from A to Z. In the laptop's monitor (14") this is the situation by default, but with my LCD back home, the struggle was tiresome. I tried everything in the monitor's control but I gave up in favor of fixing the brightness and the contrast in the NVIDIA controls in the Control Panel (along with the Hue and Vibrance). I was able finally to almost see the different bands, but the general light of the monitor was greyish and so hard to see clearly with it. Just in case, I saved the profile in a separte file just in case I want to load it when I work with my prints. So far, and after looking at my laptop's monitor and see how it is clear, I think I will work again with this problem and see if I can find a suitable compromise. Probably I'm supposed to fix my LCD at a right angle.

The other method for calibration involves printing out a specific set of images and changing the parameters of the monitor to match the tones of the printed image. Despite the idea which sounds logical, but yet I don't feel it is a practical way or should I say, a systematic way for calibrating the monitor, but when all fails, seems there is no escape to follow this as a last resort.

Behind the camera now, I've decided to have fun my own way with Eid's visits. Personally, as a loner and so much isolated from the social life in here, I don't go out and visit the rest of the family members like my family members do usually in such occasions, hence, I decided to go on and work with my camera when my brothers and sisters started to visit with all the noisy kids (and adults as well). I mounted the flash of course, which I didn't master yet, and went on splashing the light pulses all over the place (and blinding people sitting around as well). I realized again that I still need to practice the basics to use the Speedlite flash before I think creatively with it, but anyhow, the whole thing was a point-and-shoot process with a high shutter speed (but not higher than 200 since the flash unit automatically limits the speed). I'm still trying to figure out some way to shoot in higher shutter speeds like 1000 and above with the Speedlite flash, and probably this is only possible in single shot mode in the camera and setting the flash unit to Manual and full power as well. The Canon EOS 7D has a wireless control which would enable me to control the flash without any need to attach it to the camera. If only I had it back then.

 

Canon Speedlite 580EX II

No trials in HDR field this time of course, but only trials on catching the moments. Although I tried to take on bracketed exposures later in a group photo with my brothers but it failed as well for the shake. Now I realized how hard it is to mke a HDR for portraits.

My niece! Hilarious!

Angela

Of course along with other troubles, you can expect the hard shadows as well. No softbox in use here, nor a reflective surface to bounce the flash light from. Just a direct hit in the face! I'm thinking of printing some of those images. Usually the time of Eid is something I don't have much fun with, mainly because I don't get along with others as well as being bored more than the usual. But now, seems I have a sort of an effective way to have my fun, my way.

I've finalized the last slideshow with photos from Ireland, and entitled "Ireland - VI," but so far, I'm trying to find some way to send it over to many emails of friends I know. The final size of the WMV file was more than 23MB a bit and with some trials to minimize the size (and quality a bit) the final product so far is an AVI of 13MB. I might put this file into my Google account for downloading and put a link leading to that in the email. I've just found out that in Google you can't upload a file larger than 20MB into your account.

Just before I finalize this post, there is one hilarious event that took place few days ago, and I really would like to mention this here, problably some reader would find me an explanation for this. If you followed the previous post, you might read something about creating a SR imge of a toast texture and produced almost a 31MP image out of three 8MP images. I had to fine-tune the final image a bit and fix the tones and contrast. The image was submitted as it is then to Canstockphoto, which accepted it, and also to Bigstockphoto, which unfortunately, refused it. Now the reason for this refusal was hilarious a bit. Grainy image. Do they realize the image is of a TOAST surface?!?!

Alexander 6, V87.

 TGIT. WOHO! But unfortunately, I'm not going out tonight. But at least I will have a break from the humdrum of this work place and some time for myself to stay all night as much as I like!
I've left home this morning leaving my PTGui doing  stitch for me. The trials with Autodesk Stitcher did not work as well yesterday. The process was chaotic really. I tried this morning to stitch triplets or singles together but that didn't work as well or maybe I just didn't find the proper controls. The thing is, Autodesk Stitcher is completely automatic, with a sort of a powerful algorithm.

By coincidence I discovered a tiny mistake in Harald's book, in Page 42, where 2 captions and 2 images are flipped.

The only hope for me now is PTGui as it seems and this time I have to work the hard way. The way that I hated the most before. When I left home this morning I left PTGui stitching my office images in storing them as separate layers (with their correspondant layer mask). Later on, I will have to stock these in Photoshop and fix them manually to hide and show what I like, as I like. The name Photoshop brings the shiver to my PC's memory. I;m frustrated more about Autodesk Stitcher by the way, and I'm determined to find some use for this software by any cost!!!

I'm thinking of seriously ordering some new books about Photography and other things, but afraid to do so because I won't have the time to read them. These books were stored in my Wishlist long time ago. The main ones I'm planning to get are:

 

... and there might be others as well. As you can see not all the books are from Rookynook this time. The last book is something I've added recently. WIth my love to Archaeology, I do love manuscripts so much, and wish if I can touch one with my own hands one day! Isn't it amazing how much theories and mysteries lie ahead just by studying a single manuscript?

For the time being, I do need to work a bit just when I get back home, and then fall asleep to have a lonely fiesta of my own...

__________
2065. Alexander did not know what was happening
2066. until he heard the voice that he heard before
2067. and the voice spoke to him: O hero of Caqobia,
2068. you have proved your nobility in the tasks given to you,
2069. thus I shall do what was written in destiny for you,
2070. the air I shall command to be with you,
2071. and the thunder I shall leave by your hands,
2072. the air shall make you walk like a Shágí,
2073. and the thunder shall make your wrath like Khaznútím,
2074. but all of that is yours if you grant me one thing O hero
2075. and Alexander raised his head and asked: what is it?
2076. Aramramátáníth said: they are only used for goodness,
2077. do not use them for personal attitudes or in moments of rage,
2078. I shall be very disappointed if you do so O Alexander,
2079. now Alexander, come near the tree of the valley,
2080. and repeat after me this ritual of healing,
2081. and you shall transfer portions of this brave heart,
2082. to the heart of this tree, that is its Jawsamályá,
2083. after that we can have answers to whatever you have
2084. and Alexander knelt beside the tree
2085. and started to say the ritual after Aramramátáníth
2086. then he felt his spirit being hung in the air
2087. and the tree grew greenish and very alive again
2088. while the heart beats of Alexander increased

Alexander 6, V78.

 Calm day relatively after one fussy week that just passed away. Surprisingly, I didn't notice that I've made a new wave of images from Ireland, or a pack of 30 images, like I usually do. I spent the whole day, yesterday, trying to organize them and send it all over to many recepients as much as possible.
Despite the lessened frustration, but the day didn't pass without annoyances because of the bereaucrats. I was supposed to get my passport back today and her highness, the girl over the counter, said that it will be ready by 11 O'clock (it was 8:30 already). After all what I've suffered just to get a parking place in that hellish place now she asks me to get back at another time. I spent more than 15 minutes roaming in circles like someone lost in a circular labyrinth and at the end I've parked in a no-parking area in front of the police station! Hilarious!

I've finally managed to get my Manfrotto 303SPH from DHL and still trying to get used to it but unfortunately I've been struck with unpleasant fact: it doesn't screw properly on my "old" tripod. But I'm working on it at the moment and will try to see if there is some way to go around that.

Manfrotto 303SPH

My writing mood had been switched off again because of the dizzy things here and there and I barely have the time to write something even when I think of some lines in my head. I don't carry a note with me now wherever I go. Typing down as well is not as good as writing down on paper. The pen and paper got some classical sense on them and somehow, strangely, help on with the flow of words. With me at least.

I've spent some of my day now adjusting and fixing some of the stuff in the Ayvarith dictionary and trying to proof-read the Ayvarith version of Alexander 6. I have to go through the whole document and emphasize on some aspects of the grammar, specially the present tense formulation from 4-letter-root verbs. I know I made a fuss in this category. Meanwhile, there had been some corrections in the manucript as well for some duplicated use of some words but they occured in different ways in Ayvarith. While doing all of this and that, I'm planning and trying to put some primitive idea or design for the general webpage in the near future. To do this, I have to seriously now consider ending my continuous fasting because I will be needing lot of concentration starting from the morning or after that a bit, at work. Most of my stuff about Ayvarith are done at work not at home. At home I'm mostly busy with photography and other things, plus, gaming!

I leave you now with some photos from my last email...

__________
1849. the two sat down beside one tree, with the Cadid
1850. and Kaliván just noticed the Cadid beside Alexander
1851. and he shouted so out loud: Cadid!!! you have a Cadid!!!
1852. Alexander answered calmly and said: yes, he is my servant
1853. but Kaliván stepped back and shouted: what kind of man are you?!
1854. Alexander replied: calm down O Kaliván, or else!
1855. under this pressure from Alexander, Kaliván got back
1856. and with a calm and humble voice he said: yes O good man,
1857. what are your questions? I hope I will answer all I can,
1858. but later, you should tell me your story as well
1859. Alexander agreed to the terms of the dwarf
1860. and then he asked: what is Jawsamályá?
1861. what is Mikanazzar and what is Aram... ?
1862. the dwarf man then answered calmly but in surprise
1863. "it is indeed a surprise that Aramramátáníth chose you!
1864. but what can I say in front of the will of the Great,
1865. and I wonder how come a man do not know these!
1866. however, I shall answer you as you requested"
1867. Alexander kept a careful eye on Kaliván
1868. and for his answer he was waiting patiently
1869. but the time was traveling so slow in that moment
1870. thus he could not keep it inside his heart
1871. and he had to yell at the little man out loud
1872. "Kaliván! hurry up! we do not have all day!"

Disappointment!

Disappointment... it is very disappointing. I just discovered that my abilities to sketch is not up to the task... at all.

I might have done some ornamentations or so, but sketching figured, specially in a away similar to those used in medieval manuscripts, is out of my skills. I asked my brother though to see if he can do something similar but he did not answer me at all on MSN!

As for the time being I'm continuing my work with the translation as I finished 2 verses and finished the transliteration for the 1st and the 2nd verses. OpenOffice might have created some problems for me with the foreign letters (foreign: not used in the English basic letters), I might have to switch back to Word, which is something I don't like at all. I might consider doing a manuscript-like effect without doing any sketches for persons. I will concentrate on translating and transliterating for the time being.

It's Thursday, and few minutes from now I will be out of this place and back home to have a nap and get out at night. I'm planning to start fasting starting from Friday, and with this hot weather it is really a challenge. Also, I might be able to go to Failaka island again this Friday (and hopefully I'll be fasting as well!!). So much pressure as it might seem... fasting and hot weather and also cruising out in this hot weather... well... fasting is about challenge in the first place.

If you ask why I'm gona start fasting, well, it is the month of Rajab now in the lunar calendar, and it is said fasting in this month has lot of rewards... not physical rewards that is! I did the same already for 2 months + Ramadhan (that is 3 months in total) in hot summer days last year, so hopefully I shall continue on the same path this year. Wish me luck!

Twirl...

Working on the sketch of the manuscript still with no idea of what to do or what to put down. I didn't start sketching the object yet, but merely the ornamentations that are to be on the sides. I chose to depict a scene from chapter 3 (The bulughmans), first and second verses. The first verse is supposedly showing the image of Alexander crossing the land of day and night, while the second depicts him meeting the Bulughman nomads. This is the idea for now, and of course I had to add the Ayvarith text, and all should be handwritten. Add to that, I did not start writing down the translation of the last chapter. It is just so exhausting, simply by being at work!

On the other hand, I'm trying to squeeze my brain for more words for poetry. I had a nice period last week of flowing words into my mind. This week seems dull. Some emotional matters are shaky at the moment leaving me in a dilemma of what to do next. This might be reason for the busy mind and the inability to write more poetry.

I picked the little kitty to the vet and kept it there. Hopefully I'm going to get it by tomorrow if possible, and I hope he's going to be OK and walking again. I think I have to build some sort of a house (maybe from a hard-paper box) and keep it cool somehow away from the sun heat, for him and for his mother as well.

Maybe I don't know or understand how animals talk or think, but I could see clearly the sadness on the cat's face for taking away her kitty, specially that she was not around when I picked him up. She doesn't say much in the yard now and mostly outside, probably looking after him. I hope she feels OK when I bring him tomorrow... if everything went alright.

My ears are aching, most probably because of using the headphone at work all the time and listening to the Irish music out loud. I hate to go to the doctor to check for this. Today, I forcefully stopped using the headphones and listening to music at work. I hope it gets OK soon that way, or else, I have to check the doc.

6th Part Just Began

Sitting here inthe airport waiting for my sister to arrive, I've decided to take the laptop with me and do some writing and searching while waiting. Thus, I've decided to start my work on the 6th part of the story of Alexander. Maybe I didn't do much about it but I think the start was good, just to begin with 48 lines. As I said before that this last piece is supposedly not confined to the usual limit of 144 lines.
While doing so, I'm doing some search on the net trying to find more information about the Danish expedition to Failaka back in 1958. I need some information about the techniques used by them back at that time, but yet no luck. The expedition is mentioned in many places but not in detailed manner.
In the same time, I'm struggling with my new blog, since I don't know how to settle lot of options. There is no blogroll like in Yahoo! blog where I used to put my sites in this option called "blogroll." I still visit the options in this blog from time to time and try to surf a bit in the options to see if there is something I've missed already. I need a concrete way to tell people about my previous blog where most of the details about the story of Alexander and the fonts had been mentioned before.
In the meantime, I go one trying to imagine what to do artistically concerning the story of Alexander. I've decided to go on trying to do something that looks like a medieval manuscript with some paintings and text in Ayvarith script and depicting a scene from the story of Alexander. Yet, I'm not sure how I'm going to add all of that into the site in the myth section, but there is a big chance that I will use the Flash capabilities. Flash is good for compressing audio files. Also, I will try to depend solely this time on OpenOffice for typing the transliteration and other things (like my archaeology report), I think this program has a future specially that it's free and has most of the options provided in Microsoft Office. The only bad thing I have here is that I can't use a shortcut for typing a symbol in the text, but I have to use the menues all the time and so on. Long process, but I might overcome that by using the "replace" capabilities in the "Edit" menu.

Too many ideas and too many work and yet little bit of mood is available.
Just remembered, maybe I should send a notice to some friends about this new blog, though, they might not like it anyway!